but first as i mentioned jim i mean you know as my guests in just a minute is a painter straighter who is possibly the most prolific painter in the world his style is very recognizable and i was a lot of street art. and his influence in my humble opinion biasses from picasso to keith haring and beyond let's see is very individual. bryant and fun fun fun jim paintings grab your attention but he's entertaining pop creations also deal with serious topics capitalism and gentrification avignon averages about four works per day to give something away and others he simply tazz out. avignon is self-taught in his art career began in the early nine hundred ninety s. when he built stage sets for raves and twenty third saying he was asked to restore

his own painting at the eastside gallery a remnant of the berlin wall that's now a designated historic monument he created a completely new work instead destroying the original and causing quite a scandal. avignon has been making the art world for almost thirty years he's lost none of his spirit of adventure and still has that some streak. george thanks very much you've been called the fastest painter in the world do you consider that a compliment. i think i like being the fastest and in the world in fact it was me it was my myself were invented that phrase at a time when speed had nothing to do in art and i had a feeling i want to become a cartoon correct or not so i thought what could be the most absurd and i invented

the facet pains and i thought it was a visit by the press now where do you get the ideas from your i mean you're very prolific the paintings of full of political statements sometimes societal whatever it is means your head buzzing constant well i think you can collect ideas just like food from the tree you have to just walk around with your eyes open. way instead of to taxi watched people read in their faces what's going on in their minds three don't you see the internet go out talk to people i think you have a big cocktail of input and then you re mix the ideas but there is also another idea behind it and that you want to keep prices down you want your to be available for everybody done and it not to cost thousands of euros i think that's very admirable absolutely i think for me everybody who buys a painting should want to buy it because he likes the painting and not as an

investment and unfortunately most of that gets bought these days gets bought as an investment and therefore as an example how to make it different i try to keep my prices small but you're getting more and more popular. actually goes up and that is you could ranking see rankings on internet and i've been more popular ten years ago and i will say so. now let me ask you i want to ask you about the east side gallery which was mentioned very briefly in the report first i should explain to our viewers that this is an open a gallery here in berlin which consists of thirteen hundred meters what remains of the former wall which divided east and west over thirty years ago painters revise it to paint parts of the world one of those invited and which he did and then a few years back it was in a pretty sorry state for various reasons which we won't go into and you decided to

repaint the picture we didn't repaint it you painted a brand new picture but you got into trouble what happened well first of all i wasn't invited to paint it. like not many people interested in painting the wall and then like everybody could do it i don't i didn't even have to show a sketch it was like that for twenty years. trashed and you grow as a painter and it feels kind of like renovate your painting that you've done twenty years ago and my paintings many years ago was about like how i see bowen i thought it would be nice to have an update and just do a new version of how i see bill and now twenty three years later. i did that but in the meantime there is a gallery had become a monument and therefore everybody who touches the monument gets risky to get into prison for that and suddenly i was in the situation that in the newspapers and

. the public up public opinion was that i should get punished for having painted a new painting on my old one but you didn't get punished what i was actually it was a big buzz in the media it was in a couple of pages from from the newspapers but in the end nothing happened nothing howards jim good luck with all your work in the future we haven't even mentioned your music i know you're a great musician as well we'll have to do that another time. you know thanks very much for being next having me. now artists have been involved with our next topic not just designing an ice hotel right up in the freezing cold arctic circle a village in swedish. the oldest ice hotel in the world. has to be rebuilt every year but they've been doing it for nearly thirty years now and it's made from

thirty thousand tons of snow ice that's a mixture of packed snow and ice. the best way to get to this destination is to speed along sweden's frozen tony river it feels like minus fifty degrees celsius on our way to a spectacular hotel built from ice and snow. every year some sixty thousand visitors from across the globe. come here to spend the night in the world's largest ice hotel. is the hotel's creative director he says the structure has to be rebuilt. this is actually a big art exposed the ice hotel and every year is unique with pete. we don't even. a different thing. from.

the name of the village means coming together by the river meeting place good used to be the people that came together here in this village and now it's an international meeting place. every year. of ice from the nearby river are turned into beds and sculptures beginning we had this eagle we just more bar and we made some small beds also inside there. and then people stayed inside our cottage is here. to stay overnight in saigon and they were. back. in the projects kept gaining momentum for. the first.

year here is. minus five degrees even if it's thirty degrees so warm outside. today however the temperature in your case yes he is closer to minus thirty but that won't keep our reporter from heading off with joel sachs vic in search of the famous no from lights. after about forty five minutes they reach the destination and sure enough they spot the amazing northern lights. time to get back to the ice hotel for a good night's sleep. the moment of truth has arrived.

and after a good night's sleep their trip to the frozen north comes to an end time to pack up and head back to warmer climes. cold but very beautiful now every week our resident book david leavitt's has a look at a classic german book in our series one hundred must reads this week a book called runaway horses by the controversial author martin virus he started his life very left of center politically but meanwhile has sometimes veered very right of center so he's definitely caused controversy down the years with his controversial views. having a midlife crisis isn't as easy as it looks and if your friend is having one too you better hold on tight. and. runaway horse by much is about two middle aged men who still

don't have a clue about life there's has a well paid teacher because that exists here in germany i moved in his wife are in their mid forties and they're spending their summer at the same lake they've been coming to for eleven years it's calm and quiet i don't know boring exactly how i move likes it or so he thinks enter his old classmate klaus a journalist who sees life as an adventure and turns up with his new wife eighteen years his junior how moot can't stand the guy and yet. felt a burning envy he had virtually never lived there was nothing left over behind him there was practically nothing if he tried to remember he saw motionless images of street squares rooms now action his memory images were pervaded by a lifelessness as if in the wake of a disaster he felt that in him adventure had once and for all come to an end. of

course the brave adventurer klaus is an even bigger mess who's just as terrified of getting older as everyone else author martine via i just turned fifty himself when he came out with this book clearly he did a little personal research vizor was one of post-war germany's top authors but since the one nine hundred ninety s. a lot of readers have avoided him because of some controversial comments he made about holocaust remembrance consider yourself warned runaway horse isn't about that though it's about getting older and about the lies we choose to believe about ourselves and others. i'm there's a lot small on our website about one hundred must reads including the whole list compiled here at the w. so you can take a choice if you want to get into some of the best judgment literature d.w. dot com slash culture that's the websites where everything interesting in the world

of arts and culture is to be found. but not so old for now thanks so much for watching thank you for the crew here in berlin with i have to make such joiners again at the same time some more if you count. the.

fear of going to crane. should have been from actually catching a fish shipyard workers fear for their jobs. or strain faction a few. people are scared to fathom russian aggression. colonize affected as the battle continues over the sea of. juice up in ninety minutes t.w. . it's all happening to children in africa. during league time news from africa and the world your link to exception is still. and discussions continue and we'll come see david suffocating program and from funny to me from the z. tower i would say do definitely come smash africa join us on facebook j w cut.

to the new romex channel. goodbye no story. with exclusive. the must see concerning parts culture to ensure a. place to be for curious minds. do it yourself networkers. so subscribe don't miss out on. the french food. international gateway to the best connection salsa road and trail . located in the heart of europe you are connected to the whole world. experience outstanding shopping and dining offers and try our services. be allat guest. managed by from.

the first. place. to place. this is it really was the line for girl in a rising tensions in the middle east are israeli military just strike targets in gaza in retaliation for rocket fire from the polish palestinian enclave prime minister netanyahu said israel. is responding to quote wanton aggression all their citizens stood shoulder to shoulder with u.s. president donald trump in washington at a ceremony formally recognizing the occupied golan heights as israeli territory also coming up to recent may's latest of bricks it pete.